Let us pray, and as we pray, let us make room for Jesus in our hearts. ~D.L. Moody If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all…
Sometimes people ask me “Why should I believe in Jesus?” or “What’s so special about Jesus?” Or they ask “Do we really need Jesus?” or “Couldn’t we just be nice? Or choose whatever would suit us best?” The one thing they are all asking “Is there power in the name of Jesus?” Let’s find out! The whole concept of God is abstract until we meet Jesus. Because Jesus is God with us. What sets Jesus apart from any other teacher or…
Do you feel God is distant and not interested in you? In that case don’t trust your feelings. God is near and very interested in you. But let’s see why we could feel that way. First of all we need to know that God is not hiding. God is waiting to be found. So if we are spiritually unsatisfied it has something to do with us. Do we rush through life so stressed out and busy that we don’t have…
Christians are citizens of two worlds: God’s kingdom and the world we live in. Sometimes it is a struggle to balance out these two. We don’t want to be worldly yet we are meant to live to the fullest. How should we balance life and faith? It’s important to note that the secular world does not necessarily mean an atheistic world. The secular world is a world that has no special religious connotation. C.S. Lewis has stated “Christianity was never…
It is very important in life to get the right perspective. Only then can we gain the right perception. Just think of the story of David and Goliath. The Isralites all thought “Goliath is so big we can never kill him.” But David thought “The giant is so big I can’t miss.” We also need to discern whose perception we trust. The world tries to convince us that only the knowledge that can be perceived through five senses – and…
He who has learned to pray has learned the greatest secret of a holy and happy life. ~William Law Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and…
View the story “The Cross & Dying to Sin or What Grace Is All About” on Storify] Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it…
Today is Martin Luther’s birthday, the day after mine. That’s why I’ve always felt a deep kinship with him. I love the passionate way Martin Luther talks about God’s grace. Luther’s most famous hymn “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” is such a good example of his unwavering faith in Christ Jesus. The hymn is a paraphrase of Psalm 46. The hymn is widely and ecumenically used which brings me much joy. A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark…
It’s great that we trust God. But we are also called to follow Christ. We can’t omit the cross and Christ. Dietrich Bonhoeffer states “Christianity without discipleship is Christianity without Christ.” As followers of Jesus we can’t dictate our own terms or decide what we are willing to do. We can’t write our own program to suit our whims and wants. We can’t limit our following to our comprehension. In the Cost of Discipleship Dietrich Bonhoeffer shares the timeless advice…
When something odd and new comes around we are suspicious. When something unexpected happens in our lives we tend to cling to the old and familiar. Even if we are unhappy with the old. Because it is, at least, something we know. Too often we pass by good things because we don’t dare to taste, touch or try something new out. That almost happened to the people of Israel when God sent them bread from heaven, manna (Exodus 16). In…
